Monday, February 11, 2008

It's a tempting aspiration for starry-eyed young women. Russia's moneyed-men set don't shy from spending lavishly. They drop thousands of dollars a night at Moscow's most exclusive nightclubs, like Diaghilev Project, where, until it burned down Thursday afternoon, a VIP booth started at $10,000. They take private jets to vacation spots in the Alps and the south of France. Squiring beautiful women is chief among their pursuits.

Sounds familiar to me. Reminds me of lots of the puck bunnies in town; drooling after the Flames and frequenting the clubs the hockey stars party at in pursuit of lots of bucks. The surpising part of this article, though, in in the description of classes designed to teach young women how to "conquer" an oligarch:

Mr. Radovsky, 42, said the key for women wanting to attract powerful men is to act powerless.

A gifted sterva, Mr. Radovsky explains to his rapt students, is someone who can control men. There are a handful of roles men prefer in women, he said - sexy, playful, haughty. But tonight he's teaching the benefits of behaving like a servile child.

"Act like a four-year-old girl," he says, pacing the studio. "Your mother probably told you if you want something to get it yourself," he explains. "Get that out of your head. You have to be a funny bunny when he comes home from work with his paycheque."

One by one the women practise their Lolita acts. Holding two oranges, Mr. Radovsky asks one student to beg for them. "It's so elementary. If you act like a baby, the man will treat you like a little baby and want to give you everything."

She kneels at Mr. Radovsky's feet, looks up and asks for the orange. He replies that he doesn't have any. The women is stumped.

"If the guys says 'No,' just keep asking. You have to be confident in your role as a baby."

Exasperated, Mr. Radovsky calls in his wife, a 23-year-old former model. She throws herself at her husband's knees and begins to cry. Mr. Radovsky turns the oranges over and she trots out of the room in her high heels.

Mr. Radovsky said his schools are designed to empower women.

Oh I get it!!! Acting Powerless is empowering! It all makes sense, now. The article doesn't offer an effective rhetort when it cites the objection to these behaviour and conquering courses from a woman who writes novels about the rich and powerful and is herself married to a power monger. Jane Armstrong could have concluded her article with a real pow had she referenced a woman with a lion's voice against such oligarch oggling and the growth of feminism in Russia. The only nod to women's advancement is a tiny paragraph mid-story:

But some critics fear the Russian craze to marry up is sending the wrong message to women, who are starting to make real gains in Russia's expanding middle class.

Clearly there's an important motive for dialogue on Social structure and justice, here, when there does happen to be an abundance of women seeking men purely for day to day wealth in spite of living under an abusive husband.

New on Roses Place

Because women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we are nagging bitches and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we are selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we are typical weak females and we still can't get adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and for lots and lots of other reasons, we are part of the women's liberation movement.